Dominican Republic Women’s Volleyball team wins Pan American Games semi-final: Volleyball
The Dominican Republic had a match with the Puerto Rican Women’s Volleyball team on Tuesday, October 18, as part of the Pan American Games that are being conducted in Guadalajara, Mexico. The contest between the two sides went on for five sets at the end
of which the Dominican Republic team was able to find itself on the winning side. The win has brought the Dominican Republic squad entry into the final of the competition.
The first set of the match saw both teams compete with each other on even ground but as the frame reached its close, the Dominican Republic turned out to be the stronger side. The second set was more competitive than the first but the Dominican Republic
squad prevailed in bagging itself a win. The Puerto Ricans avoided a clean sweep by stepping up their game in the third set and securing themselves a well deserved win. The fourth set too was claimed by the Puerto Ricans but the Dominican Republic asserted
themselves by grabbing the fifth set and winning the match at the following final set scores: 25-21, 25-22, 26-28, 22-25 and 15-8.
The coach of the Dominican Republic team, Marcos Kwiek, expressed himself in the following manner at the press conference that was held after the match had reached its close: “We are very happy because of the berth to the semi final, but there are still
a lot of things to do. It took a lot to solve and adjust our reception, but the key was when we could get back on the match. Puerto Rico had two good sets, but on the fifth we kept on blocking and that was very important.”
On the other hand, the head coach of the Puerto Rican team, David Aleman, shared his views by saying: “In that first set we were dominating, and they advanced. I think that was the difference, but the double change in the blocking game really affected us.
I think there were some positive things. Our team has been working for five months and is improving.”
The Dominican Republic squad was able to outperform their rivals in the blocking department as they were able to tally a total of 24 blocks in the entire match. Seven of these were put up by Lisvel Eve while four were contributed by Bethania De la Cruz and
Milagros Cabral each.
The player that put up the most points in the entire match was Dominican Republic’s De la Cruz who scored 20 points in the match while the player that was the most active on the Puerto Rican side Sarai Alvarez who contributed by tallying 15 points.
Tags: